Understand our weaknesses

Understand our weaknesses 

We know we are not naturally good at everything we try, so learning to understand our weaknesses is something we should all try if we are to grow as individuals. It can help us find our balance in life, because it’s part of who we are. But at its most basic level, a weakness is considered to be when somebody has a disadvantage that prevents them from succeeding. So if we naturally excel in one area, we will normally be seen as having a weakness, or lack the same level of skills or talents in other areas.

In some cases it can also be a fault or flaw where natural talent is perceived by others to be a weakness. For example, if one of your clients naturally has presence and finds it easy to take control of a situation, they may sometimes appear as being over confident or pushy. Therefore, you may work with them to help find ways to spot this behavior as it happens and learn to suppress this natural talent and take a step back, or develop complimentary skills like empathy to balance things out.

So if as an adult we don’t want to feel like we are receiving bad marks at school, what options do we have to manage any real or perceived weaknesses?

Rely on talents to overcome any weaknesses

We can either do very little and just hope our skills or natural talents carry us through life and if lucky, mask any real issues or weaknesses we have. Or choose to work really hard to develop our natural skills or talents. That way we understand or acknowledge our weaknesses and make sure we excel in other areas, so we are seen as a subject matter expert and the go-to person for help, support or insight.

Make small improvements

Most of us will take it easy when trying to understand our weaknesses, however when thinking about our strengths, we are normally happy to take up a challenge. So if we ask ourselves where we are on a weakness scale of 1 to 10, depending on the score, just a small improvement may be all we need to make a change that overcomes any weakness.

Find some help

If we are not naturally good at something like sports, but want to improve, it can be helpful to train with somebody that is good at sports. You can practice together and learn those all important tips and tricks. The same is seen within our professional lives, where a professional coach, business partner or mentor can help with training and share their professional knowledge. Another option would be to simply delegate any work we are not good at or do not feel comfortable delivering, however we need to ensure the people we work with are good at what they do and share common values and quality standards. But make sure you are clear on what is expected and what help or support is available, so they succeed and feel like it is an opportunity for them to grow in experience and learn new skills.

Give up

And sometimes we just have to agree there are some things we will never master, and accept there are some fights we will always lose. But knowing when to let go and simply walk away is a life lesson some people never grasp without help. By using a simple coaching tool like the circle of influence, you can help your clients identify all of the things within their control and anything they have some influence over.

It also identifies anything outside of their control and this empowers them to question why they are wasting time on the things they can genuinely do nothing to change. This can help shift their focus and energy into things they are good at, because it really is pointless to worry about things we have no control over or know we will never succeed at.